On Wednesday 6th February, forty-one pupils from Years 9 and Years 11-13 participated in the annual United Kingdom Linguistics Olympiad. The UKLO is a national competition in which students are given information about a language they will have never seen before. They must use the information and their linguistic knowledge to ‘crack the codes’, answering puzzles and questions about language patterns. Year 9 pupils worked in teams of three and four to collaborate in the Foundation Olympiad. It was great to witness the determination and enthusiasm of the teams’ as they tried to crack the linguistic codes, with excellent teamwork by all involved. The students in Years 11-13 took part in the Advanced Olympiad, consisting of a series of extremely difficult linguistic puzzles to be answered in a two-and-a-half-hour time limit. Although the Advanced Olympiad is extremely challenging, the students showed resilience and a willingness to succeed. The results of the Advanced Olympiad will be released shortly, with the opportunity for students to progress to the second round of the competition.
